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Tutorial (sorta) for stilt houses.
jeepjeepcat
Posts: 2,302 Member
I spent ages trying to get square columns to work properly for a stilt house I built. I kept getting the lower columns switching to a 45 degree angle and it took me ages to figure it out.
This is the house I was building (after I've cleaned it of cc)
In order to show you how I fixed it, in case anyone else needs to know, I built a small tutorial house on the Bro lot in Windenburg (I pulled my cc out before I started).
In order to get started bulldoze the lot and put on Move Objects
Then build a room where you want your first level of columns to go
and a basement where your second layer will be (basically directly underneath.)
and pop in the columns
I've done them different colours so they're easier to see.
Then build the shell of your house above the 1st column level.
Delete the walls around the first layer of columns. You will notice the corner columns are now at 45 degrees.
Luckily it's easy on this level, just rotate the columns back to the right spot.
Drag a pool out on the ground level, a few squares past the columns.
The corner ones are also at 45 degrees and you can't rotate them in a pool.
Hit back to get rid of the pool, then make the basement one tile bigger all around without moving the columns. I just used the wall tool on basement level, but it doesn't matter how you do it as long as you make sure to put the columns back where they were, which should be one square in.
Depending on how you made the basement bigger the corner ones might be 45 degrees again.
It's no bother, they are in a room and can be rotated now.
and because they aren't on a corner now, when you drag in a pool they don't budge (yay!)
Put in any upper deck and the stairs. You have to be careful of stairs when placing rocks, extending the pool so it's easier to do it beforehand so you can see what works.
Use the pool tool to make an irregular edge. You won't be able to do much under the stairs.
Use the bracket keys (ctrl+ ] in my game ) to size up rocks and pop them around the edges, using alt makes them easier to place off grid.
Leave a gap for sims to get through if you want the pool swimmable and make sure to test if they can swim before going further, it may take a bit of shuffling to get it right, but from what I can see leaving about a tile free will do it.
Go down onto the pool in build mode and place sized up rocks here too. You can make them pretty big and they can cut through the pool walls.
Again check it's swimmable if needed. From what I can see, leaving a tile gap here tends to leave it swimmable too.
Pop a few rocks on the bottom of the pool and change the water, wallpaper and flooring to achieve the desired colour. Swampy green looks pretty awesome. Yet, again check it's swimmable.
Place plants (ctrl +] to size up again) on the rocks and a few in the pool and, for the last time, check it's swimmable!
Here is the finished house after a few windows and some wallpaper!
My original house is on the gallery under stilt in the search or it should be under jeeperscat, just remember to put move objects on before placing it if you want it.
Edit- terrain paint around the rocks makes it look better too. Sandy if it's a beach (with a 'y' added it was censored
) pool or mud around a swamp or natural pond.
edit 2 - photobucket has been deleted after the extortion demands for 3rd party pics, seriously, I would have accepted a charge, but $400 a year with no notice, not likely. I'm looking into my own hosting (loads cheaper) or subbing somewhere else (that's not $400) but I've moved the pics to another site for now, whilst I get sorted.
This is the house I was building (after I've cleaned it of cc)
In order to show you how I fixed it, in case anyone else needs to know, I built a small tutorial house on the Bro lot in Windenburg (I pulled my cc out before I started).
In order to get started bulldoze the lot and put on Move Objects
Then build a room where you want your first level of columns to go
and a basement where your second layer will be (basically directly underneath.)
and pop in the columns
I've done them different colours so they're easier to see.
Then build the shell of your house above the 1st column level.
Delete the walls around the first layer of columns. You will notice the corner columns are now at 45 degrees.
Luckily it's easy on this level, just rotate the columns back to the right spot.
Drag a pool out on the ground level, a few squares past the columns.
The corner ones are also at 45 degrees and you can't rotate them in a pool.
Hit back to get rid of the pool, then make the basement one tile bigger all around without moving the columns. I just used the wall tool on basement level, but it doesn't matter how you do it as long as you make sure to put the columns back where they were, which should be one square in.
Depending on how you made the basement bigger the corner ones might be 45 degrees again.
It's no bother, they are in a room and can be rotated now.
and because they aren't on a corner now, when you drag in a pool they don't budge (yay!)
Put in any upper deck and the stairs. You have to be careful of stairs when placing rocks, extending the pool so it's easier to do it beforehand so you can see what works.
Use the pool tool to make an irregular edge. You won't be able to do much under the stairs.
Use the bracket keys (ctrl+ ] in my game ) to size up rocks and pop them around the edges, using alt makes them easier to place off grid.
Leave a gap for sims to get through if you want the pool swimmable and make sure to test if they can swim before going further, it may take a bit of shuffling to get it right, but from what I can see leaving about a tile free will do it.
Go down onto the pool in build mode and place sized up rocks here too. You can make them pretty big and they can cut through the pool walls.
Again check it's swimmable if needed. From what I can see, leaving a tile gap here tends to leave it swimmable too.
Pop a few rocks on the bottom of the pool and change the water, wallpaper and flooring to achieve the desired colour. Swampy green looks pretty awesome. Yet, again check it's swimmable.
Place plants (ctrl +] to size up again) on the rocks and a few in the pool and, for the last time, check it's swimmable!
Here is the finished house after a few windows and some wallpaper!
My original house is on the gallery under stilt in the search or it should be under jeeperscat, just remember to put move objects on before placing it if you want it.
Edit- terrain paint around the rocks makes it look better too. Sandy if it's a beach (with a 'y' added it was censored
) pool or mud around a swamp or natural pond.edit 2 - photobucket has been deleted after the extortion demands for 3rd party pics, seriously, I would have accepted a charge, but $400 a year with no notice, not likely. I'm looking into my own hosting (loads cheaper) or subbing somewhere else (that's not $400) but I've moved the pics to another site for now, whilst I get sorted.
Post edited by jeepjeepcat on
8
Comments
I will post a link to this thread on the Building Tips and Tutorials thread
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
@rosemow Thank you for the link!
You're welcome
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
edit - all fixed until I decide what I'm doing, whether it be a sub somewhere more reasonable ($400 photobucket, really) or host myself.
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